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Dunstone steps in at TalkTalk on Harding's exit

It's all change atop the roster in telecoms
February 1, 2017

Is it transfer deadline day in the telecoms sector? Sir Charles Dunstone is stepping down as executive chairman at Dixons Carphone (DC.) - one half of which he founded as Carphone Warehouse in 1989 - in order to take up the same role at TalkTalk (TALK). He will take the reins from Baroness Dido Harding who has announced her departure after seven years as chief executive. Meanwhile BT 's (BT.A) former chief executive, Lord Livingston, will fill the executive chairman role at Dixons Carphone having held the deputy chairman role since 2015.

IC TIP: Hold at 168p

Ms Harding's departure from TalkTalk - which was spun out of Carphone Warehouse in 2010 - won't be in a blaze of glory in the eyes of some. She was widely criticised for her handling of the group's major cyber security breach in 2015 and has been accused of steering the business away from its budget roots. Despite this, Deutsche Bank analyst Robert Grindle said that her "energy will surely be missed".

The embattled telecoms company saw its shares suffer a drop of more than a fifth in 2016, encouraging Ms Harding to give her £220,000 annual bonus to charity.

Investors seem relieved that TalkTalk will be returning to the steady hands of Sir Charles - who also owns 31 per cent of the business - and sent the share price up 8 per cent on Thursday morning, despite the announcement coming alongside an uninspiring trading update.